Calgary eatery forced to cancel dinner for city’s needy

CALGARY – A popular, free Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless and needy has been cancelled at the last minute while the organizer battles cancer.

Through tears, Mike Hatzistamatis, the owner of Mykonos Greek Restaurant, said cancelling the meal was a difficult and heartbreaking decision.

"I feel so bad about this," said Hatzistamatis, who started the tradition with his wife, Pat, in 1991.

Last year, more than 1,000 people dined on ham, 44 turkeys and vegetables, served up by staff and volunteers.

"It brings us so much joy and now I am worried about where these people are going to go," he said. "It makes me sad."

Hatzistamatis, 59, was first diagnosed with renal cancer last December. After surgery to remove the cancer, he felt he was recovering. But this summer, he started coughing and feeling lousy.

"It came without warning. I was never sick a day in my life. Now I have cancer in my lungs and my abdomen," said Hatzistamatis, who is undergoing chemotherapy and will soon begin radiation treatments.

He said the disease is draining his energy, and he’s unable to work in the restaurant he’s owned for nearly 20 years.

"It’s slowed my ability to do work. I need to save my strength."

It’s the second time in 18 years the family has cancelled the turkey feast at 1121 Centre St. N. W.

In 2005, the couple needed time to grieve the death of their 22-year-old son, Antonios, who died two weeks before the event from leukemia.

When they announced the dinner was cancelled, Calgarian Alfred Balm offered to foot the bill for a feast at the Drop-In Centre, to honour the family.

The following year, when the free dinner resumed at Mykonos, the restaurant served 1,500 people — the largest crowd since the tradition began.

Pat said operating the restaurant while her husband of 31 years is ill has been a challenge.

She’s had help from family and friends, but it was Mike who did the majority of the hard work, she said.

"We’re all so tired and running in all different directions that we just couldn’t pull it together in time to do the dinner.

"We just hope that people in this city don’t get mad or upset with us. We’re just in a really hard place right now."

dtetley@theherald. canwest.com.